Dr Jake LaPorte is Head of Digital Development at Novartis and responsible for leading the company’s digital efforts within their Global Drug Development organization. Jake began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he was a leader in their Pharmaceutical R&D practice, during his six-year tenure, developing an expertise in large, complex transformations and innovation. It was on a fateful, extended journey in Asia-Pacific, however, where Jake read Ray Kurzweil’s The Singulatiry is Near and became captivated by the possibility of digitizing the Pharmaceutical R&D engine – he has focused his career on the realization of this concept ever since. Subsequently, he co-founded Snapdragon Chemistry, with the Head of the Chemistry Department at MIT, which seeks to enable companies to implement continuous flow chemistry in discovery, development and manufacturing, with the ultimate goal of fully digitizing chemical synthesis. Snapdragon Chemistry was recently recognized by Launch.org as a top 5 innovator in Chemistry and was joined by multi-billion dollar companies such as Dow Chemicals and Wiley Sciences. Prior to joining Novartis, Jake held various leadership positions at PPD, Inc, where he collaborated with executives to develop and implement C-level, strategic initiatives, including a long-term transformation to create industry-leading approaches to clinical development in key therapeutic areas.

Jake completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry from Harvard University, where he was an HHMI doctoral fellow, and received his BSc in Biochemistry and Mathematics, summa cum laude, from the University of Delaware.